Good News and Bad News from the Sahara

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Sigrid Maebe

The reintroduction of the Scimitar-horned Oryx (Oryx dammah)in Chad is a very positive development for the species. Unfortunately, in the meantime, regional insecurity and oil industry activities in the Sahara desert have pushed the Addax (

Constructions in French Cave Indicate Neanderthals Were More Modern than Assumed

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Reinout Verbeke

Scientists have found constructions in a cave in the south west of France that are 176,500 years old. This makes them among the oldest known human constructions. Neanderthals built structures with broken stalagmites and used them as fireplaces.